In my youth I was unstoppable. Johnny Cash’s song, “I’ve been everywhere, man. I’ve been everywhere,” could be sung, “I’ve been everywhere, man. I’ve done everything.” If I wanted to achieve a goal, go somewhere, or do something, I darn well tried. Bungie jumping, hiking to the views in Colorado, living in an Aleut village of 30 in a remote area of Alaska, camping in the Yukon snow, striving for excellence in my work and education, raising three boys, teaching myself to quilt, learning new hobbies, playing golf, and the list goes on. I set lofty goals and obtained most of them only to have new ambitions on the horizon. My brain never stopped and slowing down was out of the question. There were too many things I wanted to do. I taught others my secret to success: SMART, S – specific, M – measurable, A – achievable, R – realistic, T – timeline.

In place of my younger self is an older, wiser, more calm soul less eager to conquer the world instead content to enjoy capturing the moment with a picture, observing the trees and mountains, and writing this simple blog. Sure my old self creeps in offering compelling new aspirations. My new self recognizes my strengths and weaknesses have been altered with MS and I now realize the importance of taking care of myself by way of accepting my A – achievable and R – realistic have been modified.